Mobile Phone Reviews
 
 
Companies concerned about mobile phone viruses

Wed, 05 Apr 2006

Companies are scared to set up wireless and remote computing systems because of the security issues, according to research sponsored by Symantec .

More than 60 percent of companies are holding back on deploying the technology because they have concerns over its security, the global survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit found.

Of 240 companies polled specifically about the threat of viruses, 82 per cent of businesses expect a mobile network to be more at risk than a fixed-line network, but only a quarter had assessed the real threat that comes from their staff's handsets, the Economist Intelligence Unit found.

"They may be erring on the side of caution," said Ollie Whitehouse, a wireless research scientist at anti-virus and security software vendor Symantec, which commissioned the study.

There are currently about 100 mobile viruses that can disable a phone or create phone bills of hundreds of euros by sending pricey picture messages. The first mobile virus spreading "in the wild" emerged less than two years ago.

While this is still a tiny number compared with personal computer viruses, the threat is expected to increase.

Whitehouse said, "There’s no technological reason we won't see the same level of attacks as we've seen with desktop and laptop computers."

"Advanced mobile phones run the same kind of applications as desktop and laptop computers, and they have multiple wireless connections to get infected and spread a virus," he added.

Only nine per cent of the companies surveyed had set up a security system to deal with corporate mobile devices.

Of the rest, 10 per cent of companies have no measures for addressing mobile security, while 39 per cent are currently integrating devices into their existing fixed network security set up.

The figures varied for businesses throughout the world. In Western Europe, 55 per cent of businesses have deployed security software to protect mobile data, compared to 44 per cent in Asia-Pacific and just 36 per cent in North America.
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